Great Bugs of Fire - Volcano Loving Bugs

As such, archaea are the extremophiles who boldly thrive where no other life form would go. Some scientists have suggested that as such, archaea may represent the earliest form of life and thus may be the most likely form of life existing on other planets. About 500 species of archaea are now identified, but speculation may not be far off in projecting that given the difficulties of collecting and classifying them, there may be a million others. The life form is thought to produce about 30 percent of the biomass on Earth, much of it in the Antarctic Ocean.

In fact, as far back as 1994, Myrna Watanabe, a biotechnology consultant, wrote that the existence of this third branch of life "here on Earth has led scientists to realize that planets they hitherto assumed to be lifeless might support life."

Some estimates suggest that human biology depends on the action of nearly half a million different enzymes and proteins. In fewer than 1 case in 100, we have a three-dimensional picture of shape and function of these complex chemicals. Since 1984, the Space Shuttle has carried experiments to determine the structures of large, biologically important molecules. This research has compiled results for a host of human diseases ranging from insulin (for the control of diabetes) to one enzyme called reverse transcriptase that can be blocked to inhibit HIV infection.

In comparing more than 33 such different biological molecules crystallized on the Shuttle and also in similar conditions on earth, space produced larger space crystals in 45% of the cases and new structures in nearly 20% of the cases. As many as half the space crystals had a 10% or better improvement in the x-ray brightness or the crystallographic resolution. Both are important to determining these large molecules' shape and exact atomic positions.

Much work remains to be done in uncovering the shape and detailed way that these extreme microbial molecules achieve their thermal stability. In a controlled study comparing space grown crystals with the best data ever previously obtained from ADH crystals formed on Earth, the Italian team found that the "the microgravity-grown crystals displayed increased stability when exposed to X-rays." This finding moves the investigation closer to revealing the biological function of these complex molecules.

According to their report, although future flights will be required to solve the fully three-dimensional picture of the molecule, the Space Shuttle provided larger, more ordered and more radiation-stable examples of this microbial enzyme; and as our knowledge grows we are being offered increasing and important insights as to what makes life possible in extreme conditions.